Waiting on an Order to Finish up the Family Room

You remember the multi-colored monster of a family room. You know the red one with one gold wall and one patchy wall were I tested my paint colors?

Yeah, that one.

Well, I finally got started on the room and have had nothing but delays. To date, three walls have been painted. But, I’ve something special planned for the fourth accent wall. Not going to tell yet just what it is, but it is going to be awesome! Not so awesome now – but soon.

So, why am I waiting on getting that fourth wall done? Because I apparently was dealing with the worst freight company in the world! I special ordered, from Home Depot, my surprise for that fourth wall on September 16th. Estimated delivery was 9/24 – 9/26. I could live with that. It gave me enough time to get all the prep work done, trim painted and the other three walls painted.

I quickly got a response on the 18th of September telling me that the order had been shipped and the carrier would contact me for a delivery date and time. WooHoo! I was going to get my order sooner than expected…or so I thought.

I received a call from the carrier on Friday, September 20th and we set up the following Wednesday the 25th as the delivery date between 1:00 and 3:00. OK, so it wasn’t early like I thought it might be, but was right on schedule. Wednesday rolled around and as I eagerly anticipated the delivery, the scheduled delivery time slipped past…4:00…4:30…5:00. With each passing minute I became more frustrated.

Alrighty. Maybe they just ran late and would deliver the order tomorrow. I patiently waited until Thursday afternoon, thinking the delivery would be there. Around 3:00 on Thursday – no delivery and no contact. I called the freight carrier and asked where my order was. The website said it was on the truck for delivery. “Oh, didn’t anyone call you?”, I was asked. “The delivery address is incorrect.”

HUH? We went over what the correct address was and, sure enough, THEY HAD THE CORRECT ADDRESS!

Now, let me interject something here. We live in the country on dirt roads. BUT, FedEx finds us with no problem. UPS finds us with no problems. Another freight company has delivered to us with no problems. The address is easily findable on Google maps and the house has been here long enough that even Google Earth sees it just fine. So what’s this company’s problem??

We reset the delivery for the next day, Friday the 27 between 1:00 and 3:00.

Friday came and at 4:30, still no delivery. By this time I was steaming. If I had to take off time from work to be at the house to sign for this delivery, I would have already missed 3 days! I was on the phone – seething. I talked to the dispatcher who made a phone call to the driver.

Oh, they are finishing up an order and mine is next on the truck. Should be at your house in about an hour. Uh huh. You guessed it – the truck never showed up.

First thing Monday morning the 30th, I am on the phone with the freight company. PISSED. The dispatcher tells me that the delivery will be there tomorrow (Tuesday) and that she will be sure to make a call to the driver first thing Tuesday morning to impress upon him the urgency of this delivery.

Tuesday, October 1. D-Day. 2:30pm. No delivery.

I get on the phone…again. By coincidence I get the same dispatcher I talked to on Friday and told him that, well frankly, his driver lied and never showed up Friday and now it was Tuesday and he had ½ hour till he had missed the delivery time for today.

The dispatcher went the extra mile. I told him I was not upset with him or the dispatchers, but that their delivery drivers needed a swift kick in the ass. He assured me that the delivery would be here today. I told him that it better be because the next phone call I make will be to Home Depot letting them know just how lousy the freight company’s service had been and, since I imagined that Home Depot was a large client for them, maybe that would get them on the stick.

SUCCESS! Not 15 minutes later I actually got a phone call from the delivery truck driver. I’m not sure he realized the mistake he made calling me to confirm the address and directions, because now I had his personal cell phone and I wasn’t afraid to use it (repeatedly) should he not show up! Yeah, I can be aggressive like that. 🙂

Almost and hour and half later, the driver shows up and first words out of his mouth…”Wow. This is a long way out.” Well, DUH! Don’t you or your company have a GPS or the internet??

The good news is my ordered arrived in one piece and I love it! Yesterday, I am prepped for for the install which will start today. I’m estimating several days to get it completed like I want. But the wait will be worth it!